This invention relates to the field of medical diagnostics and more specifically to systems and methods for enumerating platelets in a biological sample from a patient.
Platelets play an important physiological function in the body. For example, platelet activity is involved with blood clotting and wound repair. Various disease states can have an effect on the amount of platelets present within an individual's blood. Hence, a platelet count test can provide an important indication of a patient's health status. For example, platelet counts can be used to monitor or diagnose diseases that involve excessive bleeding or clotting.
On occasion, platelet clumps may form in a test sample vial before the sample is submitted to a platelet counting instrument for analysis. As a result, the platelet (PLT) count that is obtained may be artificially low. To address this issue, some current analyzers raise a flag to warn the user about a possible erroneous count as a result of clumping, and the users can then count the PLT with a manual slide review.
Hence, although platelet analysis systems and methods are currently available and provide real benefits to patients in need thereof, many advances may still be made to provide improved devices and methods for assessing the status of platelets in an individual. Embodiments of the present invention provide solutions that address these problems, and hence provide answers to at least some of these outstanding needs.